RT:We've become used to hearing accusations of Russia's meddling in elections. But now we're being told it's been going on for decades, though no evidence will be released. What do you make of it?

Charles Ortel: I think that countries around the world, our own included, have strong preferences when it comes to elections – often times as to who would be the preferred outcome. There are laws on our books that are quite strict, but in theory don’t seem to be all that well enforced, concerning when foreign nations go over the line and try to, let’s say, buy an election. I don’t think Pompeo is suggesting that, but I think what he is suggesting is that the CIA may have evidence that some actors, perhaps allied to Russia, may have been exerting influence to tip the scales one way or the other in our election.

That may be true, and other nations maybe have done it too. But I think the facts are overwhelming that the upstart candidate Donald Trump fought off the establishment – 16 or 17 in the establishment Republican wing – to get the nomination. The facts are clear in the public domain that the Democratic National Committee [DNC] may well have rigged the primary for Hillary; did their level best to tip the scales of the election. A lot of actors tried to exercise influence in the election. I don’t know the specifics of what Russia may or may not have done, and what other nations may or may not have done. But I think the bigger issue - far bigger - is the degree to which the Obama administration seems likely to have tried to tip the hand heavily in favor of installing Hillary Clinton as a successor to Obama. That is something really needs to be investigated.

CIA head Pompeo held secret talks with Syrian intel in attempt to release US captive – report https://t.co/b7wUx7pbrG

RT:Even some of the Democrats say it's high time talks about Russia stopped. Do you think we will see any changes in how the US deals with this issue?

CO: I hope so. I think what you’re seeing is that the American people are far more concerned about the degree to which jobs are not coming fast enough back to our country at good, high paying wages with benefits. That is what we really care about, and the impending blow up of this Obamacare system, which was a disaster from the beginning. That’s what Americans really care about. When we think about our foreign issues, people who think deeply about the issues should look back over the last eight years, the last 16 years, to think about why it makes sense to reflexively go after Russia at every turn, when in fact America’s interests and Russia’s are far more closely aligned in many conflict portions of the world. It would behoove the Trump administration and the Putin administration to try to ignore this sniping and stay focused on the core issues where we do share common interests.

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